Wife of John de Ruiter granted bail on sexual assault charges

The wife of a self-proclaimed spiritual leader has been granted bail.

Leigh Ann de Ruiter, 64, was arrested on Monday and charged with three counts of sexual assault.

Police say the charges relate to three separate incidents that took place between 2017 and 2020.

Her husband, John de Ruiter, was arrested on Jan. 22 and charged with sexual assault.

He's accused of sexually assaulting four people in separate incidents between 2017 and 2020.

Police said on Tuesday Leigh Ann is charged in three of the same incidents as her husband.

John de Ruiter is the leader of a spiritual organization called the Oasis Group that is based in Edmonton.

Police say he told women in the group that he was directed by a spirit to engage in sexual activity with them to provide an opportunity to achieve a state of higher being.

John de Ruiter was released on bail on Jan. 27 with a number of conditions. 

Leigh Ann de Ruiter is also subject to a number of conditions while she's on bail, including:

• $20,000 bail
• Must report to a bail supervisor
• Must stay in Alberta
• Must surrender her passports
• Must stay at recorded address
• Cannot contact victims
• Cannot be within 100 metres of victim's home, work, or present location
• Cannot arrange, counsel, or facilitate any sexual activities between John de Ruiter and any other female person

The lawyer who represented Leigh Ann de Ruiter in court on Wednesday spoke to the media after the bail decision.

"I’m very concerned about the police’s conduct here, I thought it was rather heavy handed," Dino Bottos told reporters.

He questioned why Leigh Ann de Ruiter wasn't charged back in January when her husband was arrested, since she has been charged in connection with the same incidents.

"The police did not lay charges against Leigh Ann de Ruiter, even though they knew of her involvement throughout. It’s the same evidence, based on the same allegations. Nothing has changed."

"It causes me to ask, ‘Why now?’ and it causes me to wonder, is this an attempt to turn Ms. De Ruiter against Mr. de Ruiter in an attempt to cause her to flip?"

Bottos said he also takes issue with the way police went about the arrest.

"She's 64 years old, no criminal record, tied to this community for about 20 years. Instead of inviting her to surrender herself, they waited at her house, and arrest her late afternoon, and oppose her bail, and make her wait and sleep in jail for two nights, only for the Crown to agree this afternoon to release her on bail," he said.

"There’s concern here that the police should have done this a lot differently. It was unnecessary to have her arrested in the way that she was and kept overnight."

Bottos has been retained by John de Ruiter to represent him on his own case, so he said he would not be representing Leigh Ann de Ruiter when her case goes to trial.